


a thousand years' promise

by tolmeanie



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Supernatural Elements, Verbal Abuse, i think that's all the tags really, it's a minor character death but it is referenced throughout the work, japanese mythology!au, the character death drives the plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 18:16:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9197624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tolmeanie/pseuds/tolmeanie
Summary: Kwon Soonyoung is a kitsune (fox spirit) and Jeon Wonwoo is not a woman, surely not the woman Soonyoung has been searching for, most definitely not the woman who promised Soonyoung they'd be happy after a thousand years. But they make it work, somehow.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this has been generally a wild ride from the start to the end but i have to say, i am pretty proud of how it turned out to be! it's basically a japanese mythology!au that was half-inspired by clamp's xxxholic and i've always wanted to try my hand at writing something inspired by it and through supernova, i managed to do just that so i'm very happy and have learned quite a bit from this experience too! 
> 
> but i shall not bore you with my rambling and let me just give a shoutout to the ever-amazing kat (@wonddeul on twitter and @nikospyrr on ao3); my amazing artist and supporter through this fic! she's made art for this fic which you can check out right here [@wonddeul](https://twitter.com/wonddeul/status/816628114759372800)! i'm not the most sociable potato but thank you so much for sticking till the end and for your amazing work aaaaa ALSO the soonwoonet peeps, i know i just joined and i'm awkward but you guys seem real fun so i'm excited to get you know you guys more too! i hope you enjoy your read!

Soonyoung's fingers flit through the collection of brown, fallen leaves, looking for a pair of suitable shape and size to build his house of leaves, a structure similar to how humans build a house of cards he supposes. He rifles through the leaves that almost crumble under his touch, too dry and crisp to be of any real use.

 

Eventually he finds the pair and with careful fingers, he stacks it above the current storey. They stay, not looking like they are about to fall and Soonyoung goes back to rifling through the stack on the ground for another pair when a strong gust of wind wrecks the entire structure, blasting the carpet of leaves and Soonyoung's handiwork away. The sole brown leaf that Soonyoung still has in his hand, saved from the earlier attack of the wind, looks pathetic and so, he lets it go, watches as it falls near his feet.

 

"I didn't just blow away your _house of leaves_ now did I?" Junhui asks, a smug smile hanging on his lips, eyes twinkling. 

 

"Nah, you _blasted_ it away." Soonyoung replies, waving a hand to show Junhui the brown grass that has been uncovered. The crow cackles and Soonyoung makes to stand, dusting off his behind as he does.

 

"When are you coming home?" Junhui asks when Soonyoung starts to walk away, up the hill, away from him. His voice is still light. Soonyoung knows that Junhui knows his answer so he does not understand why Junhui asks him this question every time they part and Soonyoung does not go with him. Go back home. Go back to where he belongs; with _them_. 

 

"When Seungcheol stops trying to get all up in my face." Soonyoung chances a look back as he replies and he can see the sorrow in Junhui's dark eyes. Junhui nods once but does not sigh, does not try to reason, does not try to drag Soonyoung back and perhaps, this is why Soonyoung likes Junhui the most.

 

"I'll wait for you. We all will," Junhui offers with a single smile and then he's gone, morphing back into a crow, flying away on soot black wings with a low croak. Soonyoung doesn't watch as his friend takes flight and doesn't feel bad. He hasn't felt bad for a long time already and was not about to return to that foolish and naive Soonyoung from about 900 years ago. 

 

Soonyoung makes his way to the house up in the hill. _Their_ secret meeting place and again, Soonyoung waits. He sits out on the porch, the woody smell of the house comforting and stare at sparrows and squirrels as they scurry across his yard. When the sun goes down and his human body gets tired of sitting in the same position for too long, Soonyoung morphs into his fox form and patrols the perimeter of the house, paws quiet and eyes sharp. 

 

He returns to the porch and lies down, curling in on himself, a pristine white ball of fur against aged wood. Soonyoung sleeps the evening away and when midnight strikes, he wakes to enchant the old house; half human, half fox working away, making sure that the aged building stands with his magic and modern support materials until they meet again.

 

She'll return, she promised after all, and Soonyoung has to be ready to welcome her back at their secret meeting place. He has been guarding the house for so long after they all moved away, moaning about transportation.

 

& & &

 

Jeon Wonwoo has been told he's cursed his whole life in a variety of ways, each arguably less creative than the last. It's understandable though; 20 years of a brand new and unique insult each day is pretty much impossible for those idiotic imbeciles.

 

He's been told enough times that he can see the insults and sneers coming from a mile away and though he used to be afraid, 20 years of playing victim to various hurtful words have numbed him enough to at least know better to protect his expensive compulsory textbooks and generally any other important and costly belongings he owns. There is only so much he can repair or replace with his meagre supermarket cashier check.

 

He sits cross-legged at the foot of the coffin, focusing his sight at the smooth wood floor in front of him, not wanting to risk meeting eyes with _them_. The funeral parlour is a real hotspot and he'd rather they not find out that he can see them (if they haven't already heard his _ability_ through the grapevine) and have them clinging onto him to finish their death wish or something like that. 

 

Other relatives that Wonwoo don't quite recognise settles into a bow in front of the coffin, the woman sniffling and dabbing at her face with a silk napkin. Wonwoo averts his eyes briefly up at them as they stand and bobs his head, a tiny bow to show his respect. Not that he really has any for them. They don't acknowledge him and Wonwoo drops his eyes when wisps of white flutter in the corner of his vision.

 

His parents have yet to turn up but that much is expected, his now-deceased-grandmother was a person they have shunned and removed from the family, much like they did with Wonwoo. Something about how _she's absolutely crazy_ or _how she made their skin crawl in the most uncomfortable of ways_.

 

Wonwoo's mother, especially, resented the old lady because she _made_ Wonwoo crazy too. Except she didn't.

 

She was Wonwoo's only support and shelter growing up with _eyes_ like his. They were similar in that sense; born with eyes to see the otherworldly and Wonwoo supposes that was why they bonded so well and why Wonwoo had always felt a connection with her over the others in his family. She could sympathise with him instead of just brushing him off, she could protect him when he was still young and naive and absolutely vulnerable, she could understand him and the world he sees, slotted somewhere between life and death and Wonwoo loved her the most because they were the same and they only ever had each other. 

 

Now, there's only him.

 

Wonwoo brushes off the sadness and the loneliness and sits there at the foot of the coffin until it is time for the family to gather for the reading of the will, bowing at those who come to pay their respects but neither party talks and it's alright that way.

 

& & &

 

Wonwoo inherits most of his grandmother's earthly possessions, to no one's surprise really, but both his direct family and relatives alike scoffs and argues; the men look coolly indifferent while the women shriek in their high-pitched voices about how it's _all unfair_ and what they have each been doing for their _'mentally-ill'_ mother and mother-in-law and how _there must have been a mistake!_

 

There is no trace of sorrow in the aftermath of death, just endless greed for the pool of money she had and the land in the hills under her name. Wonwoo meets eyes with the lawyer sitting at the end of the table and feels ashamed that an outsider has to witness raw human cruelty and greed, his family (for easy reference) a personification of a vice. Wonwoo averts his eyes downwards when his mother starts screaming in his ears and out the corner of his eyes, the lawyer seems to flinch.

 

"How could you have _tricked_ an ill old woman into giving everything to you? You must have _forced_ her to sign the documents, forced her to give everything to you! What have you even done when _I_ was paying for her household fees? You cursed _bastard child_!" She's enraged, furious and so is Wonwoo. She is spouting nonsense, playing up her character of that one respectful and caring daughter who supported her ill mother till the very end in front of an outsider; paying for her household fees?

 

What _bullshit_.

 

 The fucking money goes to meaningless manicure and thousand dollar Chanel make-up sets to lather over her veil lips, various exquisite perfume to cover up her foul intentions and equally volatile temper. They have done _nothing_ ; nothing for his grandmother, nothing for Wonwoo, nothing for either of them all these years and _now_ , when it comes to claiming her wealth and possessions after her death and after shedding a few crocodile tears at the foot of her coffin, they are claiming that they have been there? What a load of fucking bullshit.

 

Wonwoo did not stay with his grandmother in hopes of getting all of her accumulated wealth and the land under her name, he stayed because he _needed_ her as much as she needed him. All he had ever wanted was for someone to understand him; it's alright even if they cannot accept him, _it's alright_ he understands where they come from and why anyone would avoid him like he's the plague. He just wanted someone to _understand_ him; not brush him off like he was insane, like he was the one spouting nonsense, doing things for attention from his uncaring mother and indifferent father. All Wonwoo ever wanted was just understanding and his grandmother gave him just that and so much more.

 

He supposed seeing the same things he did helped the case a lot but there was something more. There was something _unconditional_ in the way she brushed his hair, ghosting aged and wrinkled pads of her finger under his eyes, warm honey voice in the late of night telling him that _he is strong_ and that _he will make it through_ like she knew exactly all his thoughts and worries. (And perhaps she did.) She was all Wonwoo had ever had and now that she's _gone_ , they dare insult the bond Wonwoo shared with her just for that few thousand dollars and that old, old land up in the hills? _Fuck them all_.

 

"Don't give yourself so much credit; none of you were ever there and if we investigated it, it'll be fucking obvious so don't talk like you ever deserve anything from her. You threw both of us away and never bothered so why now? Oh, I know, it's for the money and the land isn't it? _How sad. Oh, poor you._ " Wonwoo lets slip, spitting his own poison as he meets her eyes and eventually, shifting his gaze so that he can look all the shell-shocked faces in the room straight in the eyes, cap on his temper and anger coming off. He can stand them insulting him, cursing him out but not his _grandmother_ , not _their bond_ that none of them could ever even begin to fathom. Never. The lawyer looks awe-struck though Wonwoo can tell he is trying to contain and manage his features. Wonwoo feels bad that he has to deal with such a dysfunctional family so late at night.

 

The room is silent and then his mother is the first in motion, arm drawn back and palms tensed, all ready to discipline the child she disowned all those years back. Wonwoo catches her incoming arm easily enough and there's a silent gasp in the air. For a split second he wonders why he had been so afraid of his mother and her hits, stopping her was just simple as catching her arm and fighting back so why was he ever afraid of such a veil creature?  

 

He raises from his seat, towering over her and spits, "I've never seen monsters as hideous as the ones caged in this room and I _am_ that 'cursed' child that sees the otherworldly. You are _all_ filthy and absolutely disgusting."

 

His mother wrenches her arm out of Wonwoo's grip, horrified but no one says anything in response to his observation and the lawyer breaks the tension by dismissing the room and saying that he will contact the relevant people in due time.

 

One by one, the seats empty out and families leave, Wonwoo left standing all by himself as the lawyer held the door open out of respect for his clients. As he leaves, Wonwoo offers the man a quiet apology and the man simply gives him a pat on the back and an equally quiet whisper of, "I'm sorry for your loss." The five words are put on repeat that night and Wonwoo screams into his pillow as he lets reality sink in; his grandmother, his one and only support, his only remaining family is _gone_.

 

He cries till he eventually falls asleep, restless even without the disruption of whispering spirits and wailing ghosts (who have all laid off his case for the night. Perhaps they could tell that he's suffering enough?) because his own heart is clouded by worries and true, heart wrenching loneliness.

 

& & &

 

Wonwoo takes a week off work to look through documents, listen to the lawyer tell him about the terms and conditions to his inherited wealth and settle things with the bank. At the end, the lawyer sets him on a trip out to his grandmother's land in the hills the next town over, saying that he will send an agent to meet him there and discuss what they'll do with the land. Wonwoo had insisted that leaving the land as it is was alright but the lawyer had replied that it is compulsory procedure to inspect the land and discuss with the agent again on what exactly he wants or did not want to do with respect to the land.   

 

According to the records, the land is untouched and has been for the last few centuries, passing down from one name to another as the years past but never once has the owners tried to build anything on it and the land was never allowed to be touched by the government or used for development in any way. The hill is not bare though since there are records of a house on the land but the lawyer believed that the building was nothing but ruins in the present time and Wonwoo had to agree. It does not seem like many have stepped foot onto the hill or his grandmother's land in a long time.

 

The trip over to the next town is uneventful, just a change of scenery Wonwoo did not know he needed. He never did much travelling, not even those school excursions that all the students get hyped about. Wonwoo never had friends who'd get hyped with him and he preferred clocking in hours at the supermarket, facing forgettable faces instead of trying to blend in and always look the other way or pretended that he was deaf to those too-loud whispers.

 

The hike up the hill to the house is relatively quiet as well, crickets chirping as metal gave way to a maze of trunks and a complicated system of roots. The foliage is dense and as Wonwoo made his way deeper into the forest, winding this way and that to get to the ruins of a house where they had promised to meet, Wonwoo noticed the whispering and the wailing getting softer and softer and eventually disappearing altogether, leaving Wonwoo to enjoy the sounds of nature and nothing else.

 

It left him puzzled because he had expected to attract more ghosts and spirits since it has been a long time since a human stepped foot in the hills and he was truly alone with no other humans to help him should any of them decide to have a little 'fun' with him.

 

Normally, the otherworldly would crowd to Wonwoo without a second's hesitation, begging for him to fulfil their last wish, their regrets or to borrow his body to meet their family one last time. Their ghastly whispers and tortured wails haunted Wonwoo everywhere he went ever since he was born and to suddenly be rid of it made Wonwoo uneasy. Especially since he had expected a spike in paranormal occurrences.

 

Wonwoo pressed on, hiking and making his way up the hill as he searched for the single house that stood on the hill, on his grandmother's land, on _his_ land he muses quietly.

 

What he finds is not exactly what he had expected to find, not really.

 

The house Wonwoo is expecting to find should be the remains of a thousand-year old house, completely ruined by neglect, a set of collapsed ruins because its foundation could not withstand the test of time, green vines and mosses decorating the pile of rocks and straw and wood as nature stretches its finger to reclaim the house left abandoned by human life. _Should be._

 

The house Wonwoo find is a completely new building; old wood supported by sturdy metal beams, the yard neat and carpeted and somehow _alive_. It did not feel like a house, it felt like a living breathing creature of sorts and Wonwoo took a step back. There's no way he's seeing what he's seeing, has everything so far been an illusion? Has a spirit already taken over him? What exactly is happening?

 

For one, there was absolutely no way the house standing in front of him is a thousand-years-old. It looked too new and too modern and too clean (the use of the beams and the neat carpeted yard?) to have been standing in the same spot for the last thousand years. _Perhaps someone did get something done on the land but it was never declared or the report just did not reflect it_ , Wonwoo thought. That would explain why the house looked completely new. _Yeah, that sounds about right._

 

The door creaked open at that point and Wonwoo thought that the agent must have arrived before him and was waiting in the house. Sure enough, a head popped into view and gestured for Wonwoo to enter with a polite smile. He strode closer and entered the house as the agent turned into the right corridor at the far corner. The door inched shut as Wonwoo followed the agent, the interior of the house sparkling clean with the appropriate furniture left and right.

 

As he turned the corner, he caught sight of the agent further up front and Wonwoo called out, "hey, wait a moment."

 

He followed the agent down a maze of corridors, the interior structure of the house similar to those in the early years and Wonwoo had to start jogging to make sure he did not lose the agent's shadow as the other seemingly drifted down the paths leading them somewhere.

 

Eventually, the agent paused outside a door and mouthed for Wonwoo to _come here_. Usually, Wonwoo would have kept his distance but in this house, his body seemed to betray his thoughts and worries as his feet started taking him closer to the room and eventually stopped at the door where his arms raised to push the door open for him to enter.

 

Despite feeling like he should be alarmed and afraid because he held absolutely no control over himself, Wonwoo felt at ease with a strange excitement bubbling in the depth of his stomach. His brain said fear and unease but his heart calmed it down with slow and steady thuds against his ribcage and adrenaline refused to flow. He pushed the door open further and stepped in.

 

& & &

 

"Soonyoung!" Her nectar like voice called out and he thinks that his name has never sounded more beautiful and probably never will. He shows himself; exchanging fox's paws for human limbs, a long snout for a button nose she said _was just the most adorable_ and fox-fire blue eyes for a muted, natural brown. (The eyes took some time but Soonyoung's got it almost perfect, a mirror of her own.)

 

"Woo hee," he says by way of greeting, her name bringing a smile to his face. Soonyoung thinks that he will never not smile when saying those two words that mean the entire world to him. She spins around to look at him and asks for his hands.

 

Soonyoung shows her his hands, palms up and she tells him to cup it. He does; Soonyoung does not think he can ever defy Woo Hee.

 

She drops a mountain of rainbow coloured cubes dusted with sugar into his palms and when Soonyoung looks at the pile of cubes and up to her in confusion, Woo Hee picks a sakura-pink coloured one and presses it against Soonyoung's lips. He parts it enough for the cube to slip in and promptly melt on his tongue.

 

"Is it nice?" She asks, watching Soonyoung's expression intently, finger still hanging in mid-air, a few inches away from his lips. Soonyoung nods, smiling at the sweetness that envelopes his tongue and the sheer joy on Woo Hee's face at the confirmation.

 

"That's great! Have more, they're really sweet." Woo Hee says, picking out a bright canary yellow one to press against Soonyoung's lips again. Soonyoung parts his lips enough to let it in and melt on his tongue again, beaming at Woo Hee. She smiled back and after a few more times, Woo Hee says she has to get going or her mother would start looking for her.

 

"When can we meet again?" Soonyoung asks when Woo Hee did not mention when she would come visit again.

 

She stops in her track and the wind howls, the night turning dark though it was sunny just moments again. The bushes surrounding them turn a brilliant yellow, a warm orange and then a dry brown and the bare stems elongate, cracking and creaking as they wound around her lithe body. Soonyoung wants to call out, wants to reach out to pull her away about he is frozen stiff as the world turns dark and Woo Hee is swallowed by the crackling branches.

 

When she turns back, the stems have covered her entire face save for her mouth and it drips blood when she talks. " _We can't. Soonyoung, I'm dead, remember?_ "

 

Soonyoung's blood run cold and the ground opens beneath her, roots pulling her six feet under as she screams, " _Why didn't you save me?_ "

 

& & &

 

He wakes up screaming, bolting straight up as the image stays fresh and vivid in his mind and realisation hits him like a train yet again. Woo Hee is dead and Soonyoung did not save her. Woo Hee is dead and Soonyoung could do nothing but wail and wait for her to fulfil a childish promise of theirs. Woo Hee is dead and Soonyoung is dead too.

 

His mind is taken off his recurring nightmare as something shifts in his peripheral vision and Soonyoung  turns completely to face the stranger in his room. The stranger is groaning, slowly unfolding himself and raising from the floor as he shoots Soonyoung a glare. As Soonyoung matched his eyes, he noticed that the stranger is strange indeed. A human with abnormally high spiritual level was glaring at him in his house. How did he not notice the human entering the hill? Much less him entering the room?

 

"What are you doing out here, human?" Soonyoung asks, eyes narrowed as he raises to his feet, tails whooshing behind him. Humans with the ability to spy into their world are not the most uncommon; Soonyoung has heard of or seen a few of them in his lifetime but this particular one that had managed to close in on him without him knowing whatsoever piqued Soonyoung's interest.

 

The human stands to his full height, reaching just a little above Soonyoung with not the least bit of fear in his eyes as he glares at Soonyoung. "What are you doing out here, Soonyoung?" He challenges instead.

 

"You're on my hill and this is my house. I think I should be the one asking questions." Soonyoung replies smoothly, opting to sit on his high throne of tails instead, head tilted upwards, nose in the air. The stranger scowls.

 

"No, you're on _my_ hill and in _my_ house. Just because the humans have left this place untouched doesn't mean you _monsters_ magically own it." The human spat, leaning against the door, mimicking Soonyoung and of course, his nose is turned up higher than Soonyoung's. Two can play the game.

 

Soonyoung pushes off the ground with his tail, floating on his throne of tails so that his nose reaches higher than the human's. The human seems to be caught off guard but he gets on his toes with a hard glare and Soonyoung floats higher, higher, higher— _thud!_

 

"Ah, fuck!" Soonyoung exclaims as he falls, concentration breaking and sits on two of his tails, "ow, _fuck_!"

 

There's a loud 'pft' as Soonyoung rolls to the side, cradling the two tails he just landed on and then a slightly breathless, "how old are you? six?"

 

The fox is quick to sit up and huffs, "No? I'm 1016 years-old! I have nine fucking tails, you blind?" As if to prove a point, the nine tails behind Soonyoung smoothes and spreads out, a tiny lantern of blue fox-fire at each tip as he snarls, canines showing. The human makes a show of counting each tail and looks to Soonyoung almost sympathetically.

 

"You sure you did not break your hip from that fall? They say _ancient_ bones crumble into dust upon any impact and that fall just now? It sounded pretty bad." The human speaks all slowly like suddenly, Soonyoung was hard of hearing.

 

"Yah!" The fox growls, sending balls of fox-fire towards the human who doesn't flinch in the slightest, not even when a ball lingers too close to his nose. "I'll burn your face off." Soonyoung warns, stalking closer, blue eyes glowing.

 

"Do it," the human dares and there is no fear, youthful features hardening, eyes cloudy and dark.

 

Throughout his lifetime lingering on this hill, waiting in this house, Soonyoung has had to made himself seen to drive off greedy humans and those young bloods who often hold 'courage tests' on his hill. They are driven by various twisted tales about the land, each more ridiculous than the last and small groups occasionally gather to test their wits. Especially in the summer, when flowers the humans call 'fireworks' bloom in the night sky, couples venture his hills and Soonyoung sends them back with rustling leaves, strong winds and a few growls of his own for those that pressed on.

 

"Do it, _Soonyoung_." The human's baritone voice drags Soonyoung back to reality, standing a few centimetres away, as close to the human as the fox can get without having to tilt his head to look the human in the eye.

 

Before Soonyoung can say anything, a voice calls out, "Mr. Jeon Wonwoo?"

 

Just like that, the moment dissolves.

 

Blue flames dissipate into the atmosphere as Soonyoung takes a step backwards to allow the human — Jeon Wonwoo — space to open the door and leave, his features carefully stoic without any other words.

 

Soonyoung is left to stand in the room after the hu — Wonwoo has left, pondering the lack of fear and the seemingly never-ending darkness in his eyes. It's like his window is tightly shut, curtains drawn to not even let a shimmer of light into his soul and the fox is left to wonder if all of those who see their world have eyes as sorrowful as Wonwoo's.

 

& & &

 

Wonwoo emerges from the door and the agent is looking in the direction of the bushes and the trees, calling his name again. "Mr. Yoo," Wonwoo tests, stepping closer and the man turns to face him, sweating bullets.

 

"Oh my, Mr. Jeon Wonwoo, where were you?" Mr. Yoo asks, looking the younger up and down and then behind him. "Dear lord, you did not went in there did you?" He asks after putting two and two together.

 

"Oh, I —" Wonwoo stuttered, not quite sure how to explain that he followed a spirit that looked nothing at all like the agent standing in front of him (why did  Wonwoo not feel that it was weird then? No agent would walk that fast, almost like they were _gliding_ , not walking) into a completely new house when Wonwoo is sure that he is searching for the ruins of an ancient house and then meeting a fox spirit inside that claimed the house (and the hill) was his?

 

"I was just, curious. I mean, the records said that it should be a ruin but there's a completely new house here and the door was opened so I thought there was someone living here. No one told me that someone did build a house here so I was just _curious_." Wonwoo explained as normally as he could, turning back to point to the house and then facing the agent with a small smile. The man looks baffled.

 

" _A new house?_ " He whispers, like he heard Wonwoo wrong, eyes narrowed and brows pinched together. Wonwoo recognises this expression and he twirls back, points at the metal beams and wood fusion.

 

"It's right there. Don't you see the house?" By this point, the man looks less baffled and just downright disturbed as his head shakes from side to side. _No no no no no—_

 

A gust of warm breeze passes and with it comes a soft yet deeply aching whisper and when Wonwoo blinks, the house is reduced to ruins, crumbled stone foundations and rotten straws and sticks lying around, the grass comes up to his ankle, wild and dark green and then Wonwoo realise that this must be how the agent sees it, how the world sees it, how people with _normal_ eyes see it. Ah, how could he have forgotten? The world he sees and the world they see are vastly different; they don't see the pale wisps of a disembodied voice crying for help, they don't see the ebony haired and red dress woman standing at the rooftop, falling again and again, they don't see a fox's house in the middle of the forest up a hill. No, just Wonwoo.

 

"I mean, yeah — Would you like to talk about it here or?" He turns back to the agent completely and the man snaps out of it, looking at Wonwoo warily.

 

"We can head down to the town actually. The trip here was to just give you a visual of the information in the documents."

 

"Good, then we can head back down to talk about it. Let's go?"

 

The man's smile is merely a stretch of his lips; no humour, no delight, an act to coax a child. Wonwoo recognises the smile and though he knows he should not let it get to him, his insides twist and it hurts.

 

He does not look back at the house as he makes his way back down to the town with the agent, both silent. A warm breeze caresses his cheeks as if wiping away tears that cannot be seen and then again, that quiet voice whispers, _I'm sorry, I'm sorry,_ a crack punctuating the last two words.

 

Should he have looked back, he would have seen the fox's house again. Should he have looked back, he would have seen the faintest glow of fox-fire in the gap of the ajar door. Should he have looked back, he would have seen the faint shape of a woman, fists balled up at her sides as she looks on, lips trembling. Wonwoo did not look back. He knows to save himself a heartbreak by now. 20 years of looking into two worlds but never fitting into either one, always something in-between, tends to do that to people.

 

& & &

 

The next time they meet is two days later and not a lot of asking around on Soonyoung's part. Turns out Wonwoo is pretty famous despite living in the next town over and it does not take much to figure that it is because of his ability to see them. Lowly spirits and ghosts tend to haunt those with eyes like his to help them finish their dying wish, even going as far as requesting for a body to possess and do god knows what. Soonyoung follows the directions a lady gives and flies himself over to Wonwoo's town, seeking him out.

 

"Oh, Soonyoung," someone calls out behind him and the fox turns to find himself staring at a boy with a bruised eye and a heavily bruised neck.

 

"Oh, Chan! Didn't know you moved here." Soonyoung smiles, ruffling the boy's hair and instantly, he looks less translucent and more present, more solid. Chan smiles in response, mouthing a 'thanks' as he smoothes his hair out flat again.

 

"I didn't really move, I'm just kind of wandering, watching the world? I never got to see much when I was alive and I have all this time now so I thought why not?" The ghost chuckles, gesturing to the busy street they are on and the bustling crowd in general.

 

"As expected of the young bloods. I'd give you about 5 more years before you get bored and want to just laze around doing nothing though." Soonyoung comments, brows furrowed together as he looks Chan up and down like he is analyzing the boy and nods at the end of his words, certainty in his eyes.

 

Chan lets out an indignant and drawn out ' _eh_ ' and then the two of them breaks off into laughter. "You're always welcome to visit me when you finally get bored or if you ever need anything," Soonyoung offers and Chan nods, thankful as always. The boy has always been the most polite, never deserving of the abuse he suffered, neither did he deserve death. Soonyoung knew he had so much more potential, so much more _life_ but as humans always do, they prove Soonyoung wrong and are extremely difficult creatures to understand.

 

"Oh right, do you know where I can find a Jeon Wonwoo?" The fox asks and the ghost perks up, curious.

 

"Why?"

 

"I've got something to — _check_ with him. It's no big deal but you know where to find him, right?"

 

"Well yeah, he is probably the easiest person to find actually. Everyone knows him and I mean literally _everyone_ ; both the townspeople and others like us." This caught Soonyoung's attention more than it should; he supposed he was expecting an answer like that but there was something about the way Chan relayed the information (volume dropping to a mere whisper, brows pinched together and the slight downturn of his lips) that made Soonyoung more — concerned? _Concern?_

 

"Well, he _can see us_ , the ghosts and spirits probably flock to him so they can trick or beg him into doing something stupid like lending them his body or something. What's the surprise?" Soonyoung reasoned but Chan's features did not brighten up if anything he seemed to grimace harder.

 

"They — some of them say that he's _cursed_. They say that the curse is really, really strong too. No one actually dares to possess him or get too close to him," Chan's voice grows softer and softer like he is afraid someone will hear him and he will get into trouble for saying something he should not. Soonyoung has to lean in closer to actually be able to hear the ghost.

 

"They say that once, _a while back_ , some spirit tried to possess him and they — they were forced back out and erupted into pure light flames and they just _disappeared_ , like they died again. He has a scar to show for it and since then, no one has dared to go too close to him just in case the same happens to them. Possession is _completely_ out of the question." Chan finishes, a shudder running down his spine as he leans away, glancing this way and that, looking like he was afraid someone was watching their conversation.

 

 _Bursting into pure white flames? They were **exorcised**? By Wonwoo? _ Now that sounds _unusual_ indeed. Soonyoung leaned back and stood to his full height too, tails whooshing around behind him as he thought.

 

"Well, that's something new," Soonyoung tests, watching Chan, "but don't worry, I know what I'm doing, just bring me to him okay?" Chan still looks a little reluctant but he starts walking down the street and winding through the streets, bringing them closer to Wonwoo one step at a time.

 

& & &

 

"Jeon Wonwoo."

 

Wonwoo knows better than to turn around because 1. no living person would ever talk to him, not unless they are forced to, standing at the edge of the cliff (but even then, maybe they'd rather die than be associated with him) and 2. the person — no, _thing_ — calling him now is a part of the otherworld and Wonwoo would really rather not associate himself any further than he already has. Wonwoo does not turn around, instead focusing on shelving the cans of mushrooms and ticking off the different brands as he puts them up.

 

"Jeon Wonwoo." It sounds slightly annoyed and Wonwoo counts 17 cans of Freshfarming mushrooms. He ticks off the brand before coming face to face with a ball of blue flame, the heat due to its proximity making Wonwoo blink and tense up but he resolutely does not back away. The fox, _again._

 

"Last I checked, you are not deaf, Jeon Wonwoo."

 

"Go away, Soonyoung. Find some other humans to bother."

 

" _Again,_ " is spoken as a quiet whisper that Wonwoo almost misses. "How do you know my name, Jeon Wonwoo?"

 

"Go away."

 

"Jeon —"

 

"Stop calling me by my full name. How do you even know my name?" Wonwoo's voice taking on a hard edge, intent on driving the fox spirit away, slamming his board down on the stack of boxes by his side, teeth grinding as the blue flames flicker a little.

 

"Jeon —"

 

"I said _stop it_ , did —" Wonwoo spins round, pen in hand and the tip ends up pressed into the underside of Soonyoung's left jaw, words dying on Wonwoo's tongue as a pair of brilliant sapphire eyes stare deep at him, their faces too close for comfort _. When did Soonyoung get so close?_

 

The fox raises his left hand to pull the tip of Wonwoo's pen away from the underside of his jaw but his eyes never leave Wonwoo's and it makes him feel violated in a strange and very uncomfortable way but Wonwoo makes no move to move away nor to look away. There's no way he can show any vulnerabilities, not to monsters like the one with its face inches away from his own.

 

"How do you know my name?" The fox asks and it sounds like a curious child with soft features, kohl lightly lining its eyes and smoothing out at the corner of its eyes and its cheeks are on the chubbier side with a small button nose —

 

"It just slips out," Wonwoo's brain is not functioning at this point and that answer does not sound like an answer at all and he can tell the fox thinks so too; its eyebrows pinches together, eyes narrowing and jaws set, it looks edgier this way, less child-like and more a-thousand-year-old-fox like.

 

"Wonwoo."

 

"It's like seeing a fox at the zoo and you just _know_ that it is a fox and nothing else. You are Soonyoung and nothing else, just that simple so when I call you, you're Soonyoung. There's no explanation for it." Wonwoo's mouth is on autopilot and even Wonwoo himself has no idea what he is saying. There's too many gaps in that argument and his head hurts. Soonyoung exhales and its breath fans out on Wonwoo's lips and he has to try really hard to not shiver.

 

"That does not make _any sense_. There's no way you'll just _know_ my name. Why not call me 'fox'? Why 'Soonyoung'? Why do you just _know_ my name without me ever telling you?" Soonyoung sounds exasperated and Wonwoo thinks he feels exasperated.

 

"I don't know, it just rolls off my tongue. When I see you, I know you're Soonyoung. It's like I've been taught, I just —"

 

"Then _who_ taught you? _Where_ did you hear it and from _who_?" At this, Wonwoo head came up blank because there is no such person. He just knew that day that the fox spirit is called Soonyoung and he did not even consciously try to call the fox by its name, it _just_ happened and he _just_ knew and it was _just_ right.

 

Wonwoo must have remained silent for too long because Soonyoung leaned back before he could work out any explanation and sighed. "You don't know, huh?" A mutter under his breath and Wonwoo feels woozy for a moment but when he blinks once, twice, everything is alright again. His chest feels slightly congested but with the fox out and away from his personal space, he (subtly) gulps in mouthfuls of fresh air.

 

"That's all you wanted to ask right? I have no answer for you so go away." Wonwoo ends the sentence abruptly, the fox's name almost slipping past again. It almost feels like he has called the name for years, so nostalgic and just so very familiar and briefly Wonwoo wonders if the fox is playing with him, if Soonyoung had done something to him and is just downright fucking around with Wonwoo and having a hell of a time.

 

The fox shrugs and leaves without bidding Wonwoo a goodbye, looking like it was deeply contemplating Wonwoo's words. Wonwoo turns back to shelf the boxes of mushrooms and a cough rattles through his chest.

 

& & &

 

The crow swoops down, changing in mid-air as it did and Junhui ends up skipping a few steps to gain balance on land. He runs fingers through ebony hair streaked with red as he calls out for the fox.

 

"Here," Soonyoung replies and Junhui follows the voice further up the hill only to find Soonyoung lying on the porch of the house he had taken up residence in, staring blankly at Junhui as the crow closes in, crossing the yard.

 

"You sounded urgent, what's wrong?" Junhui's eyes roam up and down Soonyoung's body as he perched himself on the edge of the porch, scanning for any kind of injury or a reason for Soonyoung to call him over so urgently.

 

"Have you ever met a human who can see us?" _That_ was unexpected and completely out of the blue, Junhui cannot see the end of this conversation but shrugs.

 

"Yeah sure, there's always a few of them in each human lifetime, isn't there?"

 

"Well, what about spirits getting exorcised when they try to possess one of those humans?"

 

"What?" Junhui's brows are scrunched up in confusion, not that Soonyoung can see it as he stares off at the yard.

 

"Like spirits trying to possess them but instead gets burned by the holy-fire and just disappears. You ever heard of anything like that?"

 

"No? How's that possible? Usually those lowly spirits are dispelled, not even exorcised, aren't they? Maybe if the human is an exorcist that makes some sense but I doubt he can perform an exorcism on himself. Also, to invoke the holy-fire...he must be a skilled exorcist." Junhui voices his train of thought out loud, not exactly sure what Soonyoung wants to hear so he opts to just give it all to the fox.

 

Soonyoung bolts up after a few quiet moments like he was waiting for Junhui's words to sink in. "You think so too right? I mean it just sounds strange!" The fox exclaims, raking his hand through his silver hair, eyes shut tight and jaw tensed, tails whooshing this way and that behind him.

 

"What's gotten into you so suddenly?" The crow asks and the fox merely sighs before giving in and spilling everything when Junhui presses.

 

"That — that sounds _really odd_. Maybe you can ask Jihoon? I mean he knows the answer to _everything_ so he'll probably be able to help you figure it out? I mean this Wonwoo guy sounds plain weird. You sure he's human?" Junhui offers but Soonyoung does not even consider before shooting the idea down.

 

"Jihoon takes payment for _everything_ and that smug smile he has? Argh, just thinking about it, I can hear him chanting about how stupid I am and it hurts right _here_." Soonyoung stabs at his chest with a finger, pouting.

 

"Maybe you are _that_ stupid. I mean, Jihoon is _always_ right." Junhui defends and Soonyoung looks offended for a moment before they burst out laughing.

 

& & &

 

Soonyoung sends a fireball Wonwoo's way, stopping the ball of flame right in front of his nose again, the usual position. He does a good job of ignoring it as he bags groceries, giving the tiniest of smiles and wishing people a good day ahead. The line does not stop for a long while and Soonyoung watches as Wonwoo scans, bags and smiles.

 

When the mart empties out and another employee comes to take Wonwoo's counter, Soonyoung floats a few meters behind Wonwoo as the human goes to the back room and slips into the locker room. Other employees sitting around in the locker room makes a mad dash for the exit when Wonwoo unlocks his locker and pulls out his lunch.

 

"Not the most popular, Mr. Jeon?" Soonyoung laughs as he settles into the seat opposite Wonwoo, taking on his human form to be able to fit into the chair. Human chairs are not exactly very friendly for foxes with nine fluffy tails.

 

 Wonwoo watches him for a moment, eyes lingering on the sapphire earrings and piercings littering his human ears and hints of aquamarine marks scrawled across his forehead from in between his bangs, both usually hidden by long silver hair. Wonwoo never stares at anything for too long and after he's had his look, dark brown eyes drop to his box of sandwiches. It looks homemade and Soonyoung briefly wonders if Wonwoo's a good chef but before he has the chance to ask, Wonwoo has broken the silence.

 

"They can't see you right? Even if you're in _that_ form." Wonwoo makes a dismissive gesture in Soonyoung's general direction.

 

"Why you ask?"

 

"This is a staff-only area and it's annoying to hear people whispering absolute bullshit behind your back so loudly you must be deaf to not hear it."

 

"They can't see me unless I want to be seen. Or unless they're _you_ , Jeon Wonwoo."

 

"When are you going to stop calling me that? Calling people by their full name is not exactly very respectful."

 

"Well, I'm about 900 years older than you, I think that doesn't apply to me."

 

"Just because you are some ancient fossil does not mean you're off the hook, if you're not going to respect me, I'm not going to respect you. It's that simple, Soonyoung." Wonwoo finished his sandwiches and went to put the box back before retrieving a small packet of white pills.

 

"You're sick?"

 

"It's the common flu." Wonwoo replies while popping two pills into his mouth and washing them down into his system with a gulp of water.

 

"Humans are so frail."

 

"Our average life span is literally a little over 70 years and you have lived for _centuries_ Soonyoung, tell me about it." It's a bitter chuckle and Soonyoung remembers Woo Hee, Chan and the other ghosts and spirits he sees roaming the Earth, on his way down his hill, on his way to see Wonwoo.

 

As Wonwoo leaves the room, the heavy metal door closing behind him, Soonyoung realises that one day, Wonwoo will die too. The thought makes Soonyoung jittery all day.

 

& & &

 

Soonyoung pops into the mart almost every day, floating around when Wonwoo has no time to deal with him and joining Wonwoo for talks about anything and everything during his breaks or when Wonwoo's doing something boring like shelving or stock checking. The human seems to not mind after about 2 moons and Soonyoung feels weirdly accomplished when Wonwoo starts smiling in the earnest or that few bursts of nose-scrunching laughter Soonyoung gets rewarded with when he tells a particularly stupid story.

 

Spending most of his time with Wonwoo, the fox had almost forgotten the promise of a thousand-year-old love, the yearning for a human girl he loves with all his heart, the best 8 moons of his life.

 

They were young, barely 16 when they met in the forest; Woo Hee had lost her way and found Soonyoung caught in a trap, wailing and frightened out of his mind. For a fox spirit like himself, 16 was likened to the infancy of humans, young and naive and not fully in control of his powers yet.

 

Afraid of the approaching human and the sharp object in her hands, Soonyoung wished desperately for familiar warm blue flames to protect himself. Sure enough, when the girl came close enough to pull Soonyoung up into a standing position to make sure he did not hurt himself anywhere from the fall when the net was cut open, Soonyoung's palms exploded into flames and the girl's sleeve was burned through, human flesh giving away at the intense heat. She pulled away with tears in her eyes as Soonyoung turned tail and ran.

 

She sought him out numerous times after that but Soonyoung never showed himself. Not until she bribed the fox with sugar and candies swiped from her home up in the hills and warm smiles that promises no harm.

 

They bonded quickly and easily because Woo Hee just seemed to _know_ what Soonyoung likes and dislikes, it was like they have been friends for eternity. No matter how many times Woo Hee told Soonyoung to not worry, he still felt bad whenever he saw the ugly burn scars adoring Woo Hee's arm knowing he did it himself. "It's alright, don't worry Soonyoung, don't worry!" She'd always coo when his eyes lingered for a second too long.

 

8 moons after their first meeting, Woo Hee brought Soonyoung to Jihoon's tree and promises that they will meet again after a thousand years. Soonyoung did not understand why she had to make a promise like that but he went along; anything for Woo Hee's smile.

 

A thousand year is not a long time, not for Soonyoung at least. Most foxes live a minimum of a nine hundred years, acquiring tails as they train and age, at least a hundred years in exchange for a tail. Most foxes take their time earning tails, some prefer to stick to just one tail for as long as they live. There's really no difference besides the prestige of flaunting their tails.

 

Soonyoung had thought at that time that humans aged like foxes did, living centuries upon centuries and so Soonyoung thought that they would be together forever. Oh, _how ignorant_ and how _little_ he knew back then. Humans are frail, they are weak and they'll never live centuries like Soonyoung and Junhui and the others. Humans die too easily, breaking like glass and once it's broken it is impossible to put them back together again.

 

After promises in front of Jihoon's tree and paying the candies in their pockets as the price, they skipped back to Woo Hee's house where they parted and she had said good-bye like she always does but never did she mention, "see you tomorrow, Soonyoung!"

 

She died that night in her sleep like she saw it coming, like she was all prepared, like she was finishing up everything she had to do before leaving.

 

The thing about Soonyoung and Woo Hee is that while she knew everything there is to know about him but he knew close to nothing about her.

 

& & &

 

The day winter finally rolls in is the day Wonwoo collapses.

 

Soonyoung had gone looking for Jihoon that morning, all bundled up with his tails pressed close for more warmth as he made his way to Jihoon's tree instead of the shop buried somewhere in the town. Jihoon is already leaning against the trunk of his tree, watching the cloudy sky from in between bare branches when Soonyoung reach. "Jihoon," the fox greets and the witch looks to the bundle in his hands instead and lets a small smile grace his features.

 

"I can't believe you're more happy to see rice cake than me. Jihoon, I'm hurt." Soonyoung shuffles the bundle out of sight, his tail aiding in hiding the bundle and with the gift out of sight, Jihoon looks up to Soonyoung.

 

"Rice cakes don't make me stupid like _someone_ does. If I hang out any more with you, your stupid is going to infect me. I can't have that." Jihoon deadpans like it is a universal fact and Soonyoung squawks indignantly and briefly contemplate throwing the rice cake off the cliff they are on but decides against it in case Jihoon make fox barbeque with him.

 

Soonyoung settles on a thick root running above ground and passes the box of rice cakes to Jihoon who accepts it with a smile and a breath of thanks. They sit in silence in the cold before Soonyoung speaks again.

 

"You guys always call me stupid, stupid...Am I really _that_ stupid?" He sounds uncertain and Jihoon bites into a honey filled rice cake and decides to just eat the thing whole before honey bursts out any more and runs down his fingers, making a mess.

 

"You're finally admitting to it?"

 

"I mean you guys have been saying that for centuries! Perhaps it started as a joke but everyone's still saying the same thing so I thought, _ah maybe I am stupid, I am an idiot._ I mean there must be a reason why you guys chant that I'm stupid right?" The fox looks to Jihoon desperately, tails curling in on himself, tense.

 

Jihoon covers the box of rice cakes as he licks his fingers clean. "Is this about Woo Hee." It's not a question; Jihoon rarely ever asks questions, he sees things coming from half the world away, he knows everything, he's the _witch_ for goodness sake! (Also, for Soonyoung, it's always Woo Hee. _Always._ )

 

There's no need for Soonyoung to answer because they both know it is about Woo Hee so Soonyoung continues on instead.

 

"Why didn't I see it coming? I mean, it was like she knew! Like she _knew_ that she was going to die and that day I did not even sense anything different. There must have been signs, how could I not have noticed? Why didn't I listen to Seungcheol and actually _learn_ about humans? What the fuck was I thinking? How could I have thought that humans, _frail and weak_ , could ever live for a thousand years? Why did I not question her when she made me promise a thousand years? _Fuck_ , there's so much I could have done and Woo Hee would never have to die. Not like that at least. She was still so young. Jihoon, _she was 16_." Soonyoung shoots, his head buried in his hands, words flying out of his mouth and he's trembling, the walk back home and her last words replaying endlessly in his head.

 

"It's not your fault Soonyoung. Whatever happened was meant to happen, there was no avoiding it." Jihoon offers and Soonyoung is so tired of hearing those words. He growls.

 

"It's my fault! It's my fault she died! I could have — could have done _something_. Woo Hee did not have to die. I could have saved her, Jihoon." His eyes are wild and his tails are bristling so Jihoon raises his unused hand to card through Soonyoung's long silver hair. It helps to calm the fox down though the sorrow and despair never leaves his eyes.

 

"Maybe I really am an idiot. It's been a thousand years and she's not returned to me. _What even am I waiting for?_ "

 

"I bore witness to your promise and you guys paid equal for your wish, it's going to come true, Soonyoung. I'm not the witch for no reason, you know." Jihoon replies, removing his hand from Soonyoung's hair and the fox looks up at the action.

 

Chan comes crashing down beside them, falling face first into the ground.

 

"Soonyoung — Jeon Wonwoo, he _fainted_!" Soonyoung is gone in a flurry of moments, Chan hanging onto one of Soonyoung's tail as the fox makes his way down to town.

 

"She — _a part of her_ — has already returned to your side, hasn't it?" Jihoon muses as the fox hurries. "Now, he'll have to choose. Let's hope you really do know him the best, Woo Hee."

& & &

 

Birds are chirping in the distance and a warm breeze caresses Wonwoo, enveloping him in warmth and nostalgia of sorts. Everything is so soft and so warm and that is why Wonwoo forces himself to wake up; it's the end of autumn, beginning of winter, there's no way it's supposed to be this warm and comfortable. Also, last he checked, the concrete of the warehouse is not at all soft so there's no way he's in the warehouse and that alarms him.

 

Eyes inch open cautiously but the bright light surrounding him blinds him and Wonwoo has to blink a few time to be able to see properly. He is met with a youthful face, all soft smiles and rosy cheeks, looking at the personification of spring itself. Wonwoo's nerve ends seem to come alive at the sight of her and he registers fingers carding themselves through his hair, tugging and massaging at his scalp methodically.

 

His mind has a ton of question to ask but his heart is at ease and his body knows this sensation and adrenaline refuse to race in his blood. "You should sleep more, he's not ready yet." The girl speaks, the smooth pads of her fingers ghosting under his eyes, making wiping motions.

 

"When will he be?" He asks, tears slipping past the corners of his eyes only to be carried away by the girl's dainty fingers. She's so warm but Wonwoo does not want to fall asleep. Not yet.

 

Her shoulders rise briefly in a shrug, "soon, I hope." Wonwoo hums along. They fall into silence and in the distance, a chorus of birds start chirping to fill the silence. She keeps wiping until no more tears fall from Wonwoo's eyes and he is struck by the sudden realisation that he has no idea why he cried but it does not bother him. It's a fleeting question and Wonwoo stows it away in a far corner in his brain.

 

"Is it because of you that I can see the otherworld? So that I will eventually meet _him_?" Wonwoo asks and her smile fades, lips tugging downwards at the corners and the birds stop singing, the wind stop blowing and everything is still.

 

" _I'm sorry_ , my dear. This is all my fault, it only I hadn't interfered that day, then — _then_ , neither of you would have to go through all this heartache, all this pain, all this torture." She apologises, heartfelt words falling out of her lips like she has been waiting for this moment all her life, her eyes a whirlpool of emotion, her lips trembling and Wonwoo, with much difficulty (why are his movements so groggy?), reaches up his hand to trace under her eyes, much like she had done for him, wiping away invisible tears. Just because she is not crying, it does not mean her heart is not bleeding and Wonwoo knows it all too well.

 

Then, the world starts to fade around them, the foliage in his peripheral vision is whisked away, everything around them just disappearing into thin air like the artist had taken an eraser to everything; trees and grass smudging and then _gone_ like it was never there. She tells him to sleep and Wonwoo cannot disobey, his eyelids are falling shut on their own and he resurfaces to cold, hard reality.

 

& & &

 

Wonwoo wakes to soft chattering somewhere on his right and warmth enveloping him and softness all over. It is obvious he is not at home; his bed is nowhere as soft as this, his blanket never warm enough and there's no longer anyone left to wake him with their chatter. He sighs and the chatter stops. Soft footsteps close in on him and Soonyoung's face comes into view. _Ah, he's in his human form._

 

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He sounds nervous and a faint head pops up behind his shoulder, peeking at Wonwoo. A ghost?

 

"Better?" Honestly, he's not sure. He's felt uncomfortable for a while now and the coming of winter did not help his case. Soonyoung brushes Wonwoo's bangs aside and perches a cold palm on Wonwoo's forehead. "Do you even know what's considered too hot for humans?" Wonwoo asks, chuckling.

 

"I'm not actually taking your temperature. I'm putting a barrier on you, it'll be easier to rest without spirits and ghosts constantly whispering in your head." Soonyoung states, eyes glowing for a moment before he pulls his palm away. "I have a human thermometer for that." The ghost fetches a box and Soonyoung pulls out the thermometer.

 

After checking the feverish range with Wonwoo, the fox decides that Wonwoo is only marginally feverish, his temperature one degree higher than the clinical range for fevers.

 

"What's wrong with you?" Soonyoung asks as he pours Wonwoo a glass of water. Wonwoo only shrugs and he seems displeased with that answer.

 

"I honestly don't know. I don't think it's anything major; I haven't been feeling well for a while now and the weather's getting colder and colder so that's not really helping." Wonwoo empties the glass of water down his throat and Soonyoung sets the glass back on the bedside table with a quiet 'clink'.

 

"How long have you been unwell?"

 

"A few months? I mean after I met you I got a case of common flu and honestly, I think the sickness just kind of built up from there. Not that it's _your fault_ or anything, maybe it's the stress from dealing with everything so suddenly." Soonyoung took in the information with a frown while Wonwoo adjusted his sleeping position a little more to find the perfect position. "Can you call the mart and tell them I can't come in for a while? I have the contact in my phone, you know how to —"

 

"You were fired." Soonyoung whispers, looking anywhere but at Wonwoo. Ghost boy takes a step back.

 

"What?" Suddenly, he is awake, looking at Soonyoung incredulously, jaws slacked.

 

"They fired you, saying something like you're cursing the mart or something."

 

" _Fuck me, ugh._ How am I supposed to pay rent now. I don't want to touch grandma's money."

 

"You can stay here. I mean I have tons of rooms and a lot of space and the spirits and ghosts won't come up here so _if you want, you can stay_." Soonyoung offers and Wonwoo eyes him, watching white tails swaying from side to side behind him and in his fever hazed mind, he wonders if they actually feel as soft as they look.

 

"Maybe I should. It's quiet and warm here." Wonwoo notes and Soonyoung smiles.

 

"Ah were you dreaming just now? You sounded like you were crying for a moment there, are you in pain?" Soonyoung brings it up like he's just remembered it. Wonwoo shrugs eyes slipping close again.

 

"I don't remember anything specific but it was warm and comfortable."

 

& & &

 

Wonwoo slips between conscious and unconscious but these days, he has been sleeping a lot more. _Too much_ , almost. Sometimes, Soonyoung is afraid that Wonwoo will leave in his sleep, quietly slipping away from Soonyoung like Woo Hee did once upon a time.

 

The time Wonwoo spends awake is far and few and even then, he can do nothing but drink sips of water and talk a little before sleep takes him again. Wonwoo takes them all in stride though, never freaking out and it makes Soonyoung worry.

 

Humans should _fear_ death, should be _afraid_ to fall back asleep especially when they are so weak and so frail but Wonwoo seems to seek sleep, wanting to return to the land in his dreams that he sometimes tells Soonyoung about the field in his dreams when everything is still vivid in his head.

 

"Soonyoung," Wonwoo calls out and Soonyoung is at his side in moments, Chan having gone down to the town to pass time. Wonwoo has his eyes open but it's glazed over and cloudy, almost like he's not — _not seeing_.

 

"I have my eyes open right?" Wonwoo asks, knuckles turning white where he has them clutched on the blanket and Wonwoo is not looking at Soonyoung, instead staring at the ceiling. Soonyoung hums a positive and tells himself that _no this is not actually happening, no way, why —_

 

"I can't see _anything_." _Why him._ Soonyoung takes one of Wonwoo's fist into his hands, uncurling the slender fingers to lace his own digits with Wonwoo's.

 

"Hey, it's just a nightmare. It's alright, your sight will be back when you wake up. You're still dreaming." Soonyoung coaxes, thumb rubbing soothing circles into Wonwoo's hand. Wonwoo looks like he wants to retort Soonyoung's words but sighs instead, relaxing into the mattress and his unseeing eyes slip shut once more and Soonyoung wants to tell Wonwoo to not sleep, to not leave him. _Don't go, Jeon Wonwoo, not you too._

 

" _Woo Hee_." Soonyoung breathes out, lips trembling, eyes shut tight and breathing has never felt so laborious, so painful.

 

"I'm called Wonwoo, Soonyoung. _Jeon Wonwoo_." The human whispers.

 

& & &

 

" _Fuck_ , if he's not going to break the seal soon, the human will die and everything would have been for naught." Jihoon chews his nails, unsure if he should step in.

 

This is Soonyoung's choice and Woo Hee had intended for Soonyoung to _choose_ ; after a thousand years, he would choose and everything would either fall apart or the train would return to its original track, where it should have been had she not interfered.

 

The witch huffs. Time is running out.

 

& & &

 

"Tell me about Woo Hee." Wonwoo asks when he is awake and it catches Soonyoung off guard. He continues tugging a clean sweater down Wonwoo's head.

 

"Why do you want to know?" With Wonwoo's cooperation, he manages to get Wonwoo's arm through the sleeves and then he gets Wonwoo to lie down again after giving him a glass of water. He has gotten a lot thinner since he barely eats and even if he did, it would come back right up. It's like Wonwoo is slowly ceasing to function, his systems stopping slowly but surely and Soonyoung does not know what to do.

 

(He tried consulting the witch, willing to give anything to save the human only to have Jihoon turn him away with a sigh and tell him that there's nothing him can do, _not yet_. Soonyoung has no idea what Jihoon means; the fox is willing to pay an equal price but Jihoon could not take his wish? _What the fuck?_ )

 

"You've been moaning about her a lot recently. You sound close to her but I've never heard of her so tell me her story." Wonwoo justifies, voice calm as unseeing eyes gaze in Soonyoung's general direction and he ends up looking past Soonyoung. It hurts the fox so bad to see Wonwoo so frail and weak, so _human_.

 

Soonyoung tells him about Woo Hee, about the best 8 moons of his life and their promise to meet a thousand years later in Wonwoo's age and time.

 

"I knew it." Wonwoo breathes out, when the story is done and Soonyoung is surprised he stayed awake this whole time, well the story is not very long since they only spent 8 moons together but Wonwoo usually drifts back to sleep after a minute or two.

 

"What do you know?" Soonyoung asks, confused.

 

"You're still _in love_ with her. _Choose her_." Wonwoo tells when his eyes seemingly focus on Soonyoung's face with precision and shoots the fox a smile. The room goes silent and Wonwoo's chest stops heaving for breaths (even his lungs seemed to have started giving up a few days ago) and his smile soften at the edges, muscles lax when there's no signal to smile anymore.

 

"Wonwoo?" Soonyoung tests but the human does not respond and when he slides two fingers to press into the pulse point a few inches below Wonwoo's ear, it is still. There's no pulse, there's no heartbeat.

 

_Oh fuck, oh no, no, no, not Wonwoo, oh shit, no —_

 

"Calm down, Soonyoung! You have to choose now, we can't delay this any longer." Jihoon is suddenly at his side, shaking Soonyoung out of his trance. Where did he come from? How did he get here? When did the witch get here?

 

"Jihoon, Wonwoo — _he died, he's gone_. Like Woo Hee, I — _Jihoon_ —" Soonyoung stutters, face blank from the excessive shock.

 

"He's not dead, _not yet_ so you have to choose now. Woo Hee or Wonwoo? Soonyoung, him or her?" Jihoon demanded and Soonyoung's eyes travel up to meet Jihoon's. His jaws are slack, pupils dilated and tails flat on the ground.

 

"Fuck this is not the time for you to freak out! She trusted you to right everything, Soonyoung!" Jihoon screamed and Soonyoung screams right back.

 

"I don't know what the hell you're saying. What the fuck Jihoon, make some sense!" Why is Woo Hee in the picture suddenly? What choice? Why did Wonwoo tell him to choose _her?_ What the hell is going on?

 

"You're just turning a blind eye to it, you've known it for a long time haven't you? You've known that Wonwoo is Woo Hee, or at least a part of her, but you're so fucking cowardly you pushed that fact to the back of your head because you did not want to believe it. Watching you, I almost believed that you had absolutely no idea but as time drew near and you starting calling out for Woo Hee, I knew that you knew.

 

And, Woo Hee, she grew afraid and uncertain when the time came for you to actually make a choice but I supposed it was human to want to continue to _exist_ , to never want to _leave_ , not even when she was nothing but a fragment of what she was. She held Wonwoo in the dreamscape, blocking his knowledge and memories of ever knowing your story and pulling him back each time he roused so he could not have done anything to persuade you to choose him. Maybe she did love you more than just the boy she saw and knew in her dreams and wanted something more with you, but a wish is a wish and Wonwoo had triggered it so you'll still have to choose. I can't blame Wonwoo though, because he is human too. Surely, he must fear death just as much, if not, _more_ than Woo Hee." Soonyoung stares at Jihoon and the witch is _right_. _He had known_.

 

Wonwoo entered the hills without Soonyoung knowing and even ventured into Soonyoung's room without the fox waking up or detecting him. It was like his magic recognised him even when Soonyoung was blind to it. That had been the first flag.

 

The second is Soonyoung's name. Wonwoo seemed so used to it, the syllabus just rolling off his lips even without Soonyoung ever telling him his name. There was no way Wonwoo had just known, no way Wonwoo would have been able to call Soonyoung by his name when he was given none. Surely, he had known Soonyoung from somewhere or some _lifetime_.

 

The third was the scar on Wonwoo's arm; the same location (in the crook of his left elbow), the same shape and size, just _identical_ in every way to the one Soonyoung had given Woo Hee once upon the time. It must have been the scar of the holy-fire that Chan was talking about, the failed possession. But still, that exact same position, the exact same shape and size. How?

 

There was no way this many coincidence could occur between Wonwoo and Soonyoung. This all seemed like a cruel joke because why is _Wonwoo Woo Hee_? She had promised to return to him and then, they'll be happy again, why did this have to happen? How was he supposed to choose?

 

"Why couldn't you just _return Woo Hee as she was_? Jihoon, why did this have to happen? We _promised_ to meet a thousand years later, we —"

 

"Your promise was a nil promise. Her promise came _first_ , a day before the two of you decided to come play lovers in front of my tree. I can't tell you more but this is how she had intended for it to be. You just have to _choose_ ; Wonwoo or Woo Hee and things will play out." Jihoon cuts, words sharp and clipped like he is already sharing too much.

 

"I'll pay so _tell me Jihoon_ , what did Woo Hee really want?" Jihoon shakes his head.

 

" _I can't_ , you'll just have to choose which to save. If you save Wonwoo, he'll be alright again since everything he is going through is because of the two of you. Woo Hee promised to return to you but Wonwoo is not just _Woo Hee_ but also the fragments of so many others. She may have decided to return to you but the other parts that made up Wonwoo sure did not so they're failing after having accomplished their part in the promise; bringing him to you, that's all. If you choose Wonwoo, he'll be made alright again.

 

If you choose Woo Hee, you'll get whatever fragments of hers that dwells in Wonwoo. Her soul is not complete and Wonwoo only has a tiny piece of what she once was. But she is the woman you love. It's your choice, Soonyoung." Jihoon offered again, watching Soonyoung.

 

"This mess is as she intended? Was this truly what she had wanted?" The fox sighs, ragged and tired. The witch nods, waiting for the answer. They have no time.

 

& & &

 

"Witch, I come with a request." Woo Hee calls out, standing in front of the tree and in moments, a small figure steps out from behind the trunk. He scans her from head to toe and then meets her eyes with a curious smile, he stretches out a hand for her to take.

 

He leads her to the back of the trunk and through the tree to his shop itself. "Sit, I'll bring tea." He offers and Woo Hee takes a sit with a polite bow. True enough, the witch comes back with a tray of tea and tea cakes. He takes his seat as Woo Hee sipped her tea.

 

"I need your help to right my wrong." She starts as the witch sips his own cup of tea, his eyebrows arching at her words and Woo Hee takes it as a sign to continue.

 

"Surely, you'd know by now but I am a seer. A seer with especially high powers so my sights are always very clear and I can look into the future for quite a while at a time. Several months back, I had this vision of my house servant meeting and saving a fox and their wonderful life after that encounter.

 

Being curious myself, I sent the specific house servant down to market to run an errand while I went to rescue the fox instead. I interfered with the vision but I had not seen what would have happened if I did that so there I was, going merrily to save this fox spirit." Woo Hee paused, eyes averted down in shame.

 

 _'The one who sees all should never interfere, lest they ruin all.'_ The saying has been passed down for generations and Woo Hee has been warned against ever doing anything when she has the visions, she is told to let everything flow and only correct it when the train is slipping off the tracks. However, her curiosity won out and now, she has really ruined all.

 

"I saved the fox spirit and we became very good friends but the house servant was napped, tortured and eventually slaughtered. They found him in a pile of trash. The search parties too have gone missing and it is a matter of time before they are found dead in a ditch somewhere too and it is all because of me. I caused this. I shouldn't have interfered with the vision, I should never have met the fox and I should never have made him love me. I need you to help me right this again." Woo Hee begged and the witch set his cup of tea down on the table.

 

"What will you pay with?"

 

"My life." If the witch was surprised, he did a good job of hiding his emotions.

 

"It's not much but I suppose you'd know wouldn't you, seer?" The witch had his head tilted just a fraction to the side. Woo Hee knows; one of the first things they see is their own death (to remind seers that ultimately, they are mortal too or something like that Woo Hee had remembered hearing) and Woo Hee did not seem all that white and old in the vision of her future.

 

"Will it be enough?"

 

"Barely." The witch admits and Woo Hee is smiling.

 

"Please _reunite_ them. Please bring the boy to Soonyoung."

 

"What about the fox's heart? Surely, he is madly in love with you."

 

"Tomorrow, I will bring Soonyoung to your tree again and we will promise to meet after a thousand years. He will wait for me so you could just take a little bit of my soul and put it in the boy. That way, with _eyes that can see Soonyoung's kind_ , they will be able to meet. I can only hope Soonyoung would have gotten over me when the time comes."

 

The witch looks at her for a moment before saying, "let's get your wish granted then."

 

That's what he does, he grants wishes, he brings true things desperately wanted by people for equal payments but Woo Hee knows he'll help too, when the time comes. A thousand years is too far into the future for her to see anything solid even with her heightened powers but she knows that she'll have to right it. They were meant to be, bounded and twisted together but because of her, they have lost each other. Now, all she can hope is that Soonyoung will one day forget someone as terrible as her and find the one he is truly destined to be with.

 

This is alright. This is her punishment for having toyed with people's destiny and Soonyoung's feelings.

 

& & &

 

Wonwoo wakes up to Soonyoung asleep, clutching desperately at Wonwoo's right hand as he rested his head on folded arms. Chan steps through the wall, gives one look at Wonwoo before flashing a smile. Wonwoo returns one as best as he can, craning his neck to make sure Chan sees it while trying to not move the rest of his body in case Soonyoung wakes up. The ghost beams wider as he moonwalks through the wall again, leaving the room.

 

"Wonwoo?" Soonyoung whispers as he slowly sits up. So much for trying not to move.

 

"I didn't mean to wake you up, go back to sleep." Wonwoo says as he sits up too, working out his kinks. It's been so long since he felt in control of his body and it almost feels like he does not need any sleep for the next 3 months.

 

"How are you feeling?" Soonyoung asks instead, a tail coming up to pat at silver hair as he stretches. Wonwoo gestures to himself like sitting up by himself is proof enough. Considering how he has been bed-ridden and almost dead for the past 2 months or so, _it is_. Soonyoung hums at Wonwoo's actions.

 

"Well, you chose me." Wonwoo brings it up for a few moments of just staring at each other, taking in the sight of the other. Soonyoung shrugs.

 

"I guess I did and now you're forever stuck with me." Wonwoo raises his eyebrows at that and Soonyoung shrugs again.

 

"I pushed you to the limit, freaking out and delaying my choice and you were almost dead so I had to pay Jihoon for him to save you. The price was for me to share my life with you so for as long as I live, you'll live too." Soonyoung explains, watching Wonwoo from behind his silver bangs, eyes darting from Wonwoo to the blankets pooling around his waist. That was the price he had to pay but more importantly, the weight of Wonwoo's life too. The human was not there to approve or reject the idea so Soonyoung has to take responsibility for choosing Wonwoo and choosing to drag Wonwoo on years, decades and maybe even centuries of adventure and life.

 

"How long so fox spirits actually live?" Soonyoung looks up to furrowed brows and narrowed eyes.

 

"A few thousand years? It depends on the fox really."

 

"How long are you planning to live?"

 

"As long as I can?"

 

"You really don't know anything do you?"

 

"I mean — _well_ ,"

 

"Do you like me?"

 

"Yeah." Wonwoo bursts out laughing as Soonyoung's mind processes what just happened and what he said yes to.

 

"Good, we've finished all the dramatic shit, do you want to kiss like they —"

 

"Yeah, _that sounds good_."

 

" — _wow, someone's eager_." The human chuckles as the fox presses in close and their noses bump in their haste, making the both of them erupt into fits of giggles.

 

Soonyoung angles his head so that their noses don't collide and their lips meet instead, rough and dry and pretty foul with morning breath but neither of them would ever have it any other way. It's just lips on lips and internalising the sensation, carving it in bones and never to be forgotten because they may have been lost but now they are intertwined again, like the way it was supposed to be from the beginning.

 

When they pull apart, they're both pulling disgusted faces. "We should probably go brush our teeth before we continue." Wonwoo suggests and Soonyoung nods grimly before they both burst out into laughter and lay in bed together, Soonyoung's tails brushing up against Wonwoo's legs and it does feel as soft as it looks.

 

Having already served its purpose, the fragment of Woo Hee's soul is removed from Wonwoo and Soonyoung has to live with the memories of that blissful 8 moons. It was arguably the best moons of Soonyoung's life but that means he will just have to work harder to make the present time with Wonwoo even more unforgettable and he has a feeling that it'll be a piece of cake.

  

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading through it all the way and i hope you had as much fun reading as i had writing this! a kudos and or comment is always appreciated because i like hearing your take and views on the fic! #happysoonwooday and see you around i guess?


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